Babgulyás

A variation of gulyásleves made with beans. This dish was among the top 10 in the soup category in a 2010 online vote to find Hungary’s favorite dishes. This is a translation of a recipe submitted to tutireceptek.hu by user PIROS35. It takes one and a half hours to make.

Ingredients:
300 grams beef or pork leg (or blade)
Smoked meat (for example, knuckle, rack of ribs)
3 carrots
2-3 parsley roots
500 grams beans (for example, cranberry beans)
1 large or 2 small onions
Fat or oil
Paprika
Ground caraway seeds, ground pepper, Delikát spice mix, 1-2 bay leaves to taste
For the dumplings: 3 eggs, salt, flour

Method:
Wash the beans the previous night or 1-2 hours before you start cooking and let them sit in warm water, then cook in salty water to which you add 1-2 bay leaves. (Replace water if needed; the beans will cook in roughly one hour.) Wash the smoked meat, let it sit in water if needed and cook it in water. (Do not add salt to the water.) Dice the onions and wilt them in fat or oil. Add the diced meat and flavor with paprika and spice mix. Add water and cook a thick pörkölt. (Replace water if needed.) When the beans are cooked, add vegetables cut into circles and cook until soft. Add the pörkölt and make dumplings from 3 beaten eggs, a small amount of salt and enough flour to make the dough not too hard and not too soft. When the dumplings are cooked, slice the smoked meat and add to the soup. Flavor with ground caraway seeds, a little pepper (and Delikát or salt if needed). To make a piquant soup, you can use the juice of the smoke meat (remove the fat) to cook the beans. You can throw away the first cooking water of the beans so that they don’t cause flatulence. You can also leave out the smoked meat and make the soup with only beef or pork.